We mourn the passing of Rebecca M. Blank, September 19, 1955 to February 17, 2023.
Top labor economist, academic administrator and policymaker with many rewards and very wide recognition. Great colleague, strong scientist, passionate policymaker, with strong social competence.
She had served the US government in various roles, finally as Acting Secretary of Commerce. Afterwards, she had been Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and President-elect of Northwestern University.
Her research covered labor supply, unemployment, the role of gender and race, poverty, and inequality in general. She studied public policies and welfare reforms to deal with these issues.
She also supported transatlantic relationships through her affiliations with DIW Berlin, DIW DC, IZA and as a GLO Fellow. We owe her quite a lot.
Blank, R.M. Changes in inequality and unemployment over the 1980s comparative cross-national responses. Journal of Population Economics 8, 1–21 (1995).
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172035. Free to read: https://rdcu.be/c5Wp1
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